"Shankaracharya's philosophical outlook can be summed up in one word Advaita, 'Dvaita' meaning duality and the prefix 'A' negating it... The goal of Advaita is to make an individual realize his or her essential (spiritual) identity with the supreme realty Brahman... Shankara was not the founder of the theory of Advaita... What he however did was to bring all the various streams of Indian thought...under the common roof of Advaita... In addition to composing numerous texts and verses delineating the essential principles of non-dualistic Vedic philosophy, a significant contribution of Shankara is his commentary on the principal Upanishad texts and the Bhagavad Gita as also the Brahma sutras... Shankara'a purpose is not to intimidate the reader with abstract technical jargon; but rather provide him/her with spiritual insight "

"Girish's...intellect continued to refuse to accept (Sri Ramakrishna) as a guru... (He) asked..."What is a guru?" (Sri Ramakrishna replied)..."A guru is like the matchmaker who arranges for the union of the bride with his bridegroom. Likewise a guru prepares for the meeting of the individual soul with his beloved, the Divine Spirit..." Ramakrishna...asked a disciple to sing..."Go into solitude and shut yourself in a cave. Peace is not there. Peace is where faith is, for faith is the root of all."... It was (the) transformed soul (of Girish) who began the practice of paying homage to Sri Ramakrishna..."